It’s been awhile since I shared a post in this series. So, in this Make Your Own Series, I’ll be sharing products that can easily be made from scratch, using common ingredients. Today I’m sharing…Make Your Own Series: Flavored Finishing Salts. Introduce your students to different types of salts, their characteristics and uses before creating their own finishing salts and experimenting with them in the lab.

Set

• Introduce the lesson and topic by asking students to brain dump everything they know about SALT on a whiteboard or piece of scrap paper. Have them share with the class. Hopefully, students share that there are a variety of different salt options.
• Discuss that while there are a lot of different salts available, there are just four basic types. Knowing what they are and when to use them can be very helpful!

Materials

• iPad or Laptop
• Electric Grinder (affiliate link)
• Course Sea Salt
• Various Herbs (fresh or dried)

Activities

• Assign students the reading from Chatelaine about the 4 Common Types of Salt and have them complete the corresponding worksheet.
• Go over the worksheet in class to be sure students understand the different uses before having them create their own herb flavored seasoning salt.
• Share with students that they will be making their own herb infused finishing salts to use in an upcoming lab, but first decide if you plan to use fresh herbs or dried herbs. If using dried herbs, just use half as much as the recipe calls for because they are more potent than fresh.
• Explain to students that a variety of herbs can be used in making finishing salts such as basil, sage, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, oregano, dill and chives.
• Finishing salts can also be used in a variety of ways such as sprinkling on top of roasted veggies, eggs, seafood, soups and breads for added flavor!
• Have students join their kitchen groups and randomly assign each group an herb to work with. This can be done by using the wheel of herbs generator. Students must then use their herb, course sea salt and a spice grinder to make their infused salts using the recipe below. You could just sprinkle the finishing salts over the tops of the rolls instead of blending it into the melted butter, but that’s your call.
• After the finishing salts are made and contained, students will prepare the Rhodes Bread Dough Rolls using their own blend. Hopefully there’s enough rolls to allow students to sample each others flavored rolls and then select their favorites.
• Note: You could also have students create a marketing campaign, ad pitch and create a label if so desired. This might also make an easy fundraiser for your class or FCCLA program.

Attachments

• All About the Salts (PDF)
• Types of Salt Article in PDF Form (PDF)
• Herb Infused Finishing Salt Recipe (PDF)
• Easiest Rhodes Rolls with Butter & Finishing Salts (PDF)